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By the end of World War I, the French army sought for a weapon to replace the Chauchat light machine gun. Originally, the M1918 BAR was going to be adopted; however it was later said that a locally-built weapon should be put into service. MAS proposed to build a derivative of the BAR for use, but MAC won their bid with their weapon, the FM 24/29, with its action partly derived from the BAR. It had favorable results, and were said to have performed better than the heavier Hotchkiss machine guns. However, problems did surface with the weapon, such as the ability for the FM 24/29 to chamber the 8mm Mauser and fire with disastrous results. With the weapon in service, the entire roster of Chauchat light machine guns was phased out. The FM 24/29 was finally retired in 2006 when the National Gendarmerie stopped using it, after a long service life of over 80 years.

The FM 24/29's action is partly derived from the famed Browning Automatic Rifle. The weapon has two triggers; one for full-auto fire and one for semi-automatic fire. The weapon's pistol grip was later used in the prototype Delacre submachine gun. The FM 24/29 had one major improvement over its predecessor, the Chauchat, and that was its magazine. The magazine was now a conventional box magazine, and lacked any holes on the side to prevent any dirt and grime from entering and jamming up the gun, rendering it useless until the jam is cleared.